I'd also vote for a spacer. As you have seen first hand, changing a headset and discovering you don't have enough stack is very frustrating. Doing so and discovering you need a spacer is much less so. In this case, cutting the steerer would prevent you from switching back to brakes that need a hanger.

I've got a few bikes with a pretty big spacer in the headset. Just low end bikes like LeMond, Stella, and Colnago though.

Here's the Colnago. Curiously, this one doesn't even have the usual keyed washer. Plenty of room for one, obviously. I don't think the steerer even has a slot for it. I guess Colnago just decided people should know how to adjust the headset without relying on such a crutch.



Lucky for me, [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] didn't notice the spacer on the Stella when it was in the Atelier for other modifications.